How software user experience can play a key role in employee engagement

One of the key themes at this year’s CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition was employee engagement and experience.

Employee engagement is complex. It spans factors such as reward, wellbeing, collaboration, communication, personal fulfilment, ownership and relationships. ADP, Impact Consulting Psychologists and Peter English all presented statistics about how employee happiness at work significantly impacts the bottom-line, it’s nice to see such academic rigour.

From a technology point of view, a number of presentations given by HCM software vendors also showed a move toward employee engagement, with particular focus on user experience.

I don’t think I’d ever join or leave an organisation based on how engaging their HCM system was – but I do think that engaging technology can play a positive role in any organisation. It can help facilitate communication, collaboration and a number of other key components of true employee engagement.

Cloud HCM products and Oracle

It’s great to see that so many system providers are now putting user experience and employee engagement at the heart of the new generation of HCM products. Oracle has invested heavily in usability and user experience in HCM Cloud. Many others – including Workday, BrightHR and Selima – all have wonderful looking consumer-grade self-service applications. In a recent survey, 33%* of respondents thinking of moving to the Cloud said that they were doing so for a better user experience. (*How Modern is HR, Oracle)

But, do you really need to invest in a new generation cloud solution to get better user experience? Is it possible to increase employee engagement with Oracle E-Business suite HCM?

Proven advances in user experience with Oracle E-Business suite HCM

Over the past 12 months, we’ve been working with the National Trust and Unite Students to make their implementations of Oracle HCM Self Service more engaging – with some remarkable results.

We used Applaud Self Service to deliver a new, modern and fresh user interface to employees and managers, complemented by native mobile and tablet applications available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

The intuitive user interface has encouraged managers and employees to become responsible for their own data. The result: dramatically improved data quality – with employees and managers correcting past absence inaccuracies and booking future holidays quickly and easily. The number of holidays booked without any administrative overhead doubled in the first month AND the amount of employees amending their personal information in the first week alone was higher than those made in the entire previous year!

“The new version (Applaud Self Service) is a different word – already getting great feedback from the team.”Hilary McGrady, Director of Operations and Consultancy, National trust

The National Trust now have a clear 360 degree view of employee absence data – but more importantly, they are able to produce accurate business intelligence (BI) to improve operations, boost employee engagement and reduce absenteeism.

If you are an Oracle E-Business suite user who has recently upgraded to R12 – and the cloud is still a while away, there is an alternative! You can provide your employees with an engaging self-service application. Applaud Self Service has been developed to meet the needs and demands of modern HR users. It helps maximize your existing Oracle investment by re-using your existing setup with no upgrades, no interfaces and no disruption – just a great user experience.

If you’d like to know more about working with Claremont and Applaud Solutions – and the smarter approach to self-service HR – then please get in touch.

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Adrian Biddulph

Managing Consultant

Adrian is responsible for the delivery of all things from a HCM technology perspective. Developing add-ons to E-Business Suite and Fusion Applications as well as consulting, managed services and providing strategic advice to a broad range of clients. Adrian’s role is to ensure that Claremont’s clients get the best possible return when using any of Oracle’s HCM suite of products.